Chapter 20: Immigrants and Urban Life

Chapter 20:Section One: A New Wave of Immigration

​Europeans Flood in America

• ​Between 1865 and 1914, 25 million Europeans immigrated to the United States.

• By the late 1890's, more than half of all immigrants were from Southern and Eastern Europe

• More than 70% of them were men

​Why Did They Immigrate?

• ​Wars

• Forced Military Service

• Famine or High Food Prices

• Religious Persecution

• Overpopulated

• Availability of Jobs in USA

​The Atlantic Voyage

• ​Most immigrants booked passage in steerage, the cheapest accommodations available

• Passage to the United States often cost a life's savings

• Entire families would often save enough to send one or two family members

​Where Did They Land?

• ​Ellis Island- Port where new immigrants landed in New York Harbor

• Immigrants filed past a doctor for an initial inspection

• Many were turned away for various reasons. (Contagious diseases or legal problems.)

• Only Two Percent were turned away

​Ellis Island...Continued

• ​Due to huge number of immigrants, inspectors had two minutes to complete the examination process.

• Many feared being sent back home

• Some immigrants had their names changed because inspectors did not have the patience to try and spell their "Foreign Names."

• Although, some immigrants changed their name on their own to fit in

Examples of Name Changes at Ellis Island:

• ​Polish names drop the Ski... Laskowski to Laskow

• German names changed from Schmidt to Smith

• Scandinavian names changed from Johannsson to Johnson

• French names changed from Bleu to Blue

• Spanish names changed from Blanco to White

• Jewish names dropped the Berg and Steins from their surname.

• The goal of this was to "Sound American" and assimilate to American society.

​ Ethnic Cities

• ​Most immigrants settled in the nations cities

• Immigrants made up a large percentage of New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit

• Immigrants tended to move into ethnically similar neighborhoods. (Ex, Little Italy, Chinatown)

​ In The Tenements

• ​Many immigrants lived in crowded Tenement Buildings

• Families shared living space while decent lighting and fresh air were scarce

• Tenements were very unhealthy places to live

​ Jacob Riis

• ​Danish Immigrant

• Rich to Poor to Middle Class

• Photographed life of immigrants in tenements and slums

• Wrote the book, "How the Other Half Lives.

​ Living Conditions

• ​Lack of indoor Plumbing

• No Ventilation

• No electricity

• Light and heat from oil only

• No furniture

• No safety codes

​ Asian Immigration

• ​Mid 1800's, China's population is exploding

• Country suffered from poverty, unemployment, and famine

• Thousands came to USA

• Railroads

• Western cities

• Some American Businesses would not hire them, so they opened up their own businesses

​ Nativism Resurges

• ​Nativism- extreme dislike of immigrants

• First surfaced in 1840/50's against Irish

• Then focused on Jews, Asians, Catholics, and Eastern Europeans

• Feared influx of Catholics would Destroy the Protestant United States

• Labor Unions thought immigrants undermined American workers because they worked for low wages

​^{Restrictions of Asian Immigration}

• ​Chinese Exclusion Act- (1882)law banning Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented Chinese already in USA from becoming citizens

• Congress renewed law for decades

• Theodore Roosevelt agreed to limit Japanese immigration if San Francisco would end school segregation